There is some disagreement about Christou's birth, the date of which is given by some authorities as 8 January; while others state 9 January. Most sources agree that he was born in
Heliopolis,
Egypt, though one states he was born in
Alexandria, and it has recently been reported that a birth certificate has been found stating that the composer was born in
Nicosia, Cyprus, though this certificate is suspected of being a forgery. His parents were Eleutherios Christou, a Greek industrialist and chocolate manufacturer, and Lilika Tavernari, of Cypriot origin. He was educated at the English School in Alexandria and he took his first piano lessons from various teachers and from the important Greek pianist
Gina Bachauer. In 1948 he gained an
MA in philosophy after having studied with
Ludwig Wittgenstein and
Bertrand Russell in
King's College, Cambridge. During that time he also studied music with
Hans Redlich (then living at
Letchworth) and in 1949 travelled to
Rome to study orchestration with
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. He briefly attended lectures by
Carl Jung in
Zurich. In 1951 he returned to Alexandria where he married Theresia Horemi in 1961. He died on or the day before his 44th birthday in a car accident in
Athens,
Greece. == Main works ==